Charafi Lena, Bolling Kristina, Schroader Bridgette Kanz, Halvorson Lisa
Bayer HealthCare, Whippany, NJ, USA.
Cencora, Conshohocken, PA, USA.
Womens Health Rep (New Rochelle). 2025 Aug 8;6(1):742-751. doi: 10.1177/26884844251366113. eCollection 2025.
Vasomotor symptoms (VMS) are the most commonly reported menopausal symptoms and vary across race and ethnicity, with higher prevalence and duration among Black and Hispanic women. This study describes demographics/clinical characteristics and treatment patterns of peri/menopausal and postmenopausal women with symptomatic menopause/VMS and asymptomatic menopause in a commercial claims population.
Data from Optum's deidentified Clinformatics Data Mart Database were obtained for peri/menopausal (aged 40-54 years) and postmenopausal (aged 55-64 years) women. VMS is not available directly in claims data and was proxied using symptomatic menopausal ICD-9/10 codes. In Phase 1, prevalence of symptomatic and asymptomatic peri/menopause (defined by ICD-9/10 codes) and baseline demographics/clinical characteristics were obtained. Phase 2 included baseline demographics/clinical characteristics, symptomatic menopause/VMS incidence rates, and treatment patterns.
Phase 1 included 1,987,355 ICD-9/10 codes for symptomatic or asymptomatic menopause. Peri/menopausal women had lower symptomatic menopause/VMS prevalence compared to postmenopausal women (6.5% vs. 4.9%). Symptomatic menopause/VMS prevalence was 5.7% and highest in White (6.3%) and lowest in Asian (3.4%) women.Phase 2 included 203,546 (53.3%) peri/menopausal and 178,658 (46.7%) postmenopausal women. Symptomatic menopause/VMS incidence was 1.2%; only 52.9% were treated. Lower incidence and treatment rates were seen among Asian (0.46%; 33.2%), Hispanic (0.43%; 46.7%), and Black (0.41%; 47.1%) women compared to White (0.59%; 55.5%) women.
This study adds to the literature by characterizing women with symptomatic menopause/VMS across the menopausal spectrum and shows that caution is needed when interpreting real-world claims data due to inherent claims database limitations. As there are no specific ICD codes for VMS, difficulties exist in utilization of claims data to accurately capture VMS characteristics and treatment patterns.
血管舒缩症状（VMS）是最常报告的更年期症状，在不同种族和族裔中存在差异，在黑人和西班牙裔女性中患病率和持续时间更高。本研究描述了商业保险理赔人群中有症状性更年期/VMS和无症状性更年期的围绝经期/绝经后期及绝经后女性的人口统计学/临床特征和治疗模式。
从Optum的去识别化临床信息数据集市数据库中获取围绝经期（40 - 54岁）和绝经后期（55 - 64岁）女性的数据。VMS不能直接从理赔数据中获取，而是使用有症状性更年期的ICD - 9/10编码进行替代。在第一阶段，获取有症状和无症状围绝经期/绝经（由ICD - 9/10编码定义）的患病率以及基线人口统计学/临床特征。第二阶段包括基线人口统计学/临床特征、有症状性更年期/VMS发病率和治疗模式。
第一阶段包括1,987,355个有症状或无症状更年期编码。围绝经期女性有症状性更年期/VMS的患病率低于绝经后女性（6.5%对4.9%）。有症状性更年期/VMS的患病率为5.7%，在白人女性中最高（6.3%），在亚洲女性中最低（3.4%）。第二阶段包括203,546名（53.3%）围绝经期和178,658名（46.7%）绝经后女性。有症状性更年期/VMS的发病率为1.2%；只有52.9%的人接受了治疗。与白人女性（0.59%；55.5%）相比，亚洲女性（0.46%；33.2%）、西班牙裔女性（0.43%；46.7%）和黑人女性（0.41%；47.1%）的发病率和治疗率较低。
本研究通过描述整个更年期范围内有症状性更年期/VMS的女性特征，为文献增添了内容，并表明由于理赔数据库固有的局限性，在解释真实世界的理赔数据时需要谨慎。由于没有VMS的特定ICD编码，利用理赔数据准确捕捉VMS特征和治疗模式存在困难。
